Thursday, December 12, 2013

ASUS Rampage IV Black Edition: The Dark Dreadnought!

Right now if you are looking for the ultimate performance in
a desktop system, your options are quite limited. With AMD not pursuing the
performance crown anymore, Intel is left battling itself for quite sometimes in
the high-end enthusiast segment. So when it comes down to choosing a platform for
your next HEDT (High-End Desktop)
build, it’s either Intel’s mainstream socket LGA1150 or the higher-end
socket LGA2011. With the later, you will not only get the chance to opt for
Intel’s 6core/12thread Ivy Bridge-E CPUs but you’ll also encounter some of the
finest (and largest!) samples of motherboard engineering. Take a look on the
new Rampage IV Black Edition and you'll know what I'm talking about!
ASUS is one of the biggest names in the PC market and it’s no secret that their
Republic of Gamers line-up represents some of the
best build-qualities and feature-sets found in consumer hardware space. ROG
branded motherboards often set a standard of their own and we don’t expect this
new motherboard to be an exception to that rule. What makes this x79 chipset
based mainboard special however is the fact that it’s a “Black Edition”
motherboard - a rare incarnation even among the ranks of the ROG! Instead of
the traditional red n black treatment, ASUS has given this one a rather
sinister looking black theme with traces of gray and red. Like many of its
LGA2011 brethren, Rampage IV black edition is based on an E-ATX form factor and
features a quad channel memory subsystem with 4 DIMM slots located at each
sides of the CPU socket making it a total of 8 DIMMs capable of supporting up
to 64GB of DDR3 RAM. For a gamer however, the benefits of a build based on x79
chipset lies elsewhere! It’s those 40 PCIe lanes provided by the Sandy Bridge-E/Ivy
Bridge-E processors that often lure enthusiasts looking for an uncompromising
muti-GPU gaming rig! With Rampage IV black edition, you can go for a two way
AMD CrossFireX or Nvidia SLI in a full x16 + x16 mode or even a tri/quad-GPU
set-up without worrying about bandwidth limitation!

ROG goes black! (click to enlarge)

ASUS has thrown in a free copy of Assassin's Creed IV: Black
Flag game for good measures which seems to be a very appropriate choice for a
black edition bundle!

As you can see, ASUS has left no stones unturned as far as
features and functionalities are concerned! You get a total of 10 SATA ports, 8
USB 3.0, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0, discrete level SupremeFX Black audio solution
along with all the BIOS and software implementations that we’ve come to expect
from a high-end ROG product. The motherboard itself is built from very high
quality components like 60A chokes & 10K black metallic solid-state
capacitors and bears a relatively clutter-free layout. Cooling is more than
adequate and heatsinks/heatpipes are also placed conveniently. You also get the
“OC Panel” – a very unique and
versatile overclocking tool. The support for PCI Express 3.0 is also there – native
and fully validated.

This is one big motherboard (click to enlarge)

Now here is something important that you should take into
account when considering an LGA2011 build! With no native USB 3.0 support and
only 2 native 6Gbps SATA (SATA3) ports, X79 (Patsburg) no longer
represents the cutting-edge of chipset technology; that honor goes to more
modern chipsets like the LGA1150. This is platform here that was originally
released along with Sandy Bridge-E series of processors more than two years ago
and unlike its mainstream counterparts the x79 chipset never got its due
refresh! While we here at Technoprozium aren’t big fans of Intel’s policy of
introducing new sockets and chipsets at every other opportunity, we can’t
ignore the fact that this flagship platform is getting a bit long in the tooth
– specially in the connectivity (I/O) front! To its credit however, ASUS has
done its best to offset these limitations by deploying all shorts of third
party chips and controllers.

Rampage IV Black Edition is now available in India and sells for a staggering Rs.35K according to ASUS! With that kind of money you could probably assemble an entire entry-level desktop PC or even buy a budget laptop! But let’s not forget that this is not a component for your run-of-the-mill builds. This is the kind of a motherboard you form an empire on, not just build a system! Anything short of an overclocked i7 4930K paired with couple of R9 290s will be regarded as severe injustice of a motherboard of this caliber! Enthusiasts considering this black beast are looking for a no holds bar multi-GPU monstrosity or even gunning for a few world-records. If you don’t see yourself doing any of that and prefer value and efficiency over bragging rights then your money is better spent on a mainstream socket LGA1150 system.Source - ASUS India